USA > Michigan > A discourse : delivered at the first meeting of the Historical Society of Michigan, September 18, 1829 > Part 4
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Oh fortunatos nimiùm, sua si bona nôrint.
Fortunate indeed, if we appreciate the blessings of self- government, the value of our institutions, the moral, political and physical advantages we enjoy. The patri- ots of the revolution have passed and are passing away. They acquired, and have transmitted to us, the noblest system of government, which ever shed its blessings upon mankind. As it is the boast of every American, that he enjoys it ; let it be his hope and effort, to transmit it, as a precious inheritance, unimpaired, to his posterity.
NOTES.
PAGE 12 .- This neutral nation, so called by Father Segurd, was still in existence, two centuries ago, when the French missionaries first reached the Upper Lakes. The details of their history, and of their character and priv- ileges, are meagre and unsatisfactory ; and this is the more to be regretted, as such a sanctuary, among barbarous tribes, is not only a singular institution, but altogether at variance with that reekless spirit of eruelty, with which their wars are usually prosecuted. The Wyandot tradition represents them, as having separated from the parent stock, during the bloody wars between their own tribe and the Iroquois, and having fled to the Sandusky river ior safety. That they here erected two Forts, within a short distance of each other, and assigned one to the Iroquois, and the other to the Wyandots and their allies, where their war-parties might find security and hospitality, whenever they entered their country. Why so unusual a proposition was made, and acceded to, tradition docs not tell. It is probable, however, that superstition lent its aid to the institution, and that it may have been indebted for its origin to the feasts, and dreams, and juggling ceremonies, which con- stituted the religion of the Aborigines. No other motive was sufficiently powerful to stay the hand of violence, and to counteract the threat of ven- geance.
An intestine feud finally arose in this neutral nation ; one party espousing the cause of the Iroquois, and the other of their enemies, and like most civil wars, this was prosecuted with relentless fury. Our informant says, that since his recollection, the remains of a red cedar post were yet to be seen, where the prisoners were tied, previously to being burned.
PAGE 24 .- Some account of a very remarkable North American Indian Chief; from Major Roger's account of that country-lately published.
The Indians on the lakes are generally at peace with one another, having a wide, extended and fruitful country in their possession. They are formed into a sort of empire, and the emperor is elected from the eldest tribe, which is the Ottawas, some of whom inhabit near our fort at Detroit, but are mostly westward toward the Mississippi. Pontiac is their present King, as emperor, who has certainly the largest empire and greatest authority of any Indian Chief that has appeared on the continent since our acquaintance with it. He puts on an air of majesty and princely grandeur, and is greatly honored and revered by his subjects. He not long since formed the design of uniting all the Indian nations together under his authority, but miscarried in the attempt.
In the year 1760 when I commanded and marched the first detachment into this country, that was ever sent there by the English, I was met in my way by an embassy sent from him, of some of his warriors, and some of the Chiefs of the tribes, that are under him : the purport of which was to let me know, that Pontiac was at a small distance, coming peaceably, and that he desired me to halt my detachment, until such time as he could see me with his own eves. His ambassadors had also orders to inform me, that he was Pontiac, the King and Lord of the country I was in.
At first salutation when we met, he demanded my business into his coun- try, and how I happened to dare to enter it without his leave? When I in- formed him, that it was not with any design against the Indians that I came,
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but to remove the French out of his country, who had been an obstacle in our way to mutual peace and commerce, and acquainted him with my in- structions for that purpose. I, at the same time delivered him some friendly messages, or belts of wampum, which he received, but gave me no other an - swer, than that he stood in the path I travelled in till next morning, giving me a sinall string of wampum, as much as to say, I must not march further, without his leave. When he departed for the night, he enquired whether I wanted any thing that his country afforded, and he would send his warriors to fetch it. I assured him that any provisions they brought should be paid for ; and the next day we were supplied by them with several bags of parched corn, and some other necessaries. At our second meeting, he gave me the pipe of peace, and both of' ns by turns smoked with it ; and he assured me he had made peace with me and my detachment ; that I might pass through his country unmolested, and relieve the French garrison; and that he would protect me and my party from any insults, that might be offered or intended by the Indians; and as an earnest of his friendship, he sent 100 warriors to protect and assist us in driving 100 fat cattle, which we had brought for the use of the detachment, from Pittsburgh, by the way of Presque Isle. He likewise sent to several of the Indian towns on the south side and west end of lake Erie, to inform them that I had his consent to enter the country. He attended me constantly after this interview, till I arrived at Detroit, and while I remained in the country, and was the means of preserving the detachment from the fury of the Indians, who had assembled at the mouth of the strait, with an intent to cut us off.
I had several conferences with him, in which he discovered great strength of judgment, and a thirst after knowledge. He endeavored to inform himself of our military order and discipline. He often intimated to me, that he could be content to reign in his country in subordination to the King of Great Brit- ain, and was willing to pay him such annual acknowledgment, as he was able, in furs, and to call him his uncle. He was curious to know our method of *manufacturing cloth, iron, &c. and expressed a great desire to see England, and offered me a part of his country if I would conduct him there. He assured me that he was inclined to live peaceably with the English, while they used him as he deserved, and to encourage their settling in his country ; but intimated, that if they treated him with neglect, he should shut up the way, and exclude them from it. In short, his whole conversation sufficiently indicated, that he was far from considering himself as a conquered prince, and that he expected to be treated with the respect and honor due to a king or emperor, by all who came into his country, or treated with him.
In 1763, this Indian had the art and address to draw a number of tribes into a confederacy, with a design first to reduce the English forts upon the lakes, and then make a peace to his mind, by which he intended to establish himself in his imperial authority : and so wisely were his measures taken, that in fifteen days time, he reduced or took ten of our garrisons, which were all we had in his country, except Detroit ; and had he carried this garrison also, nothing was in the way to complete his scheme. Some of the Indians left him, and by his consent made a separate peace ; but he would not be actor or personally concerned in it; saying that when he made a peace, it should be such an one as would be useful and honorable to himself, and to the king of Great Britain ; but he has not as yet proposed his terms.
In 1763, when I went to throw provisions into the garrison at Detroit, I 4 sent this Indian a bottle of brandy, by a Frenchman. His counsellors advised him not to taste it, insinuating that it was poisoned, and seut with a design to kill him. But Pontiac, with a nobleness of mind, laughed at their suspi- cions, saying it was not in my power to kill him, who had so lately saved my life.
In the late war of his, he appointed a commissary, and began to make money, or bills of credit, which he hath since punctually redeemed. His money was the figure of what he wanted to exchange for it, drawn upon
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bark, and the shape of an otter (his arms) drawn under it. Were proper measures taken, this Indian might be rendered very serviceable to the Brit- ish trade and settlements in this country -- more extensively so, than any one, that hath ever been in alliance with us on the continent.
PAGE 37 .-- At the Council which was held on the 23d of May, 1763, between Pontiac and his Chiefs, and the principal French inhabitants, to induce the latter to join the Indians in their efforts to cxpel the British, an allusion was made by the Ottawa Chief in his speech, to an incident, connected with the history of Detroit, no other traces of which can now be found. As the speech was delivered in the presence of his own warriors, who must have been actors in the events he described, and to the French inhabitants, who were decply interested in them, there can be no doubt of the truth of his statement. This war adds another to the calamities, alluded to in the text, which have befallen the town and settlement of Detroit; and it is to be regretted, that its incidents are probably for ever lost to us.
" I have no doubt, my brothers," said Pontiac to the French people, " but this war is very troublesome to you, and that my warriors, who are contin- ually passing aud re-passing through your settlements, frequently kill your cattle, and injure your property. I am sorry for it, and hope you do not think, that I am pleased with this conduct of my young men. And as a proof of my friendship, recollect the war you had seventeen years ago, (1746) and the part I took in it. The northern nations combined together, and came to destroy you. Who defended you? Was it not myself and my young men ? The great Chief, Mickinac, (the turtle) said in Council, that he would carry to his village the head of your chief warrior, and that hic would cat his hicart and drink his blood. Did I not then join you, and go to his camp and say to him, if he wished to kill the French, he must pass over my body, and the bodies of my young men? Did I not take hold of the tomahawk with you, and aid you in fighting your battles with Michinac, and driving him home to his country ? Why do you think I would turn my arms against you ? Am I not the same French Pontiac, who assisted you seven- teen years ago? I am a Frenchman, and I wish to die a Frenchman."
Pontiac's speech to the French inhabitants upon this occasion, was able and ingenious.
After throwing a war belt into the midst of the Council, he said to the French people, " My brothers ! I begin to grow tired of this bad meat, which is upon our lands. I begin to sce, that this is not your case, for instead of assisting us in our war with the English, you are actually assisting them. I have already told you, and I now tell you again, that when I undertook this war, it was only your interest I sought, and that I knew what I was about. I yet know what I am about. This year they must all perish. The Master of life so orders it. His will is known to us, and we must do as he says. And you, my brothers, who know him better than we do, wish to oppose his will ! Until now, I have avoided urging you upon this subject, in hopes, that if you could not aid, you would not injure us. I did not wish to ask you to figlit with us against the English, and I did not believe you would take part with them. You will say you are not with them. I know it, but your con- duct amounts to the same thing. You tell them all we do and say. You carry our couuscis and plans to thein. Now take your choice. You must be entirely French, like ourselves, or entirely English. If you are French, take this belt for yourselves and your young mea, and join us. If you are English, we declare war against you."
PAGE 41 .- General Putnam, who then commanded a detachment of Con- necticut rangers, accompanied Bradstreet in this expedition. In a letter, which he wrote, dated Camp, Sandusky, near the carrying place, Oct. ?. 1764, he reports the speech of Capt. King, one of the Oneida Chiefs, who
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had been sent with a pacific message by Gen. Bradstreet, probably in the name of the Indians, to Pontiac. This speech was delivered to the warriors of the Six Nations, who had joined the British ; and it discloses some points of policy, truly characteristic of Indian negociations.
" Friends and brothers-I am now about to acquaint you with facts, too obvious to denv. I have been, since f left you, to Monsieur Pontiac's camp, and waited on him, to see, if he was willing to come in and make peace with our brothers, the English. He asked me what I meant by all that, saying, you have always encouraged me to carry on the war against the English, and said the only reason you did not join me last year, was for want of ammuni- tion ; and as soon as you could get ammunition, you would join me. King said there was nothing in it : at which Pontiac produced six belts of wampum, that he had had last year from the Six Nations ; he said the English were so exhausted, they could do no more ; and that one year's war, well pushed, would drive them into the sea. King then made a stop for some time -- Brothers, you know this to be true, and you have always deceived me. At which the Six Nations were all angry, and this day they are packing up to go off; and what will be the event, I don't know, nor don't care, for I have no faith in an Indian peace, patchod up by presents."
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